


Living in the Moment

by auliyaaa267



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Nightmares, Sad with a Happy Ending, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Shiro cries, They cuddle at the end, keith and lance are doing their best, serious hurt though, shiro is fucking struggling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:54:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23225881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auliyaaa267/pseuds/auliyaaa267
Summary: It's been a while since Keith, Lance, and Shiro all fell for each other. It's been even longer since Voltron began saving the universe again. It's been even longer than that since Shiro was kidnapped, so why can't he get a hold of himself?Or rather, Shiro has a nightmare and tells Lance and Keith something that happened to him, and comfort ensues.
Relationships: Keith/Lance/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 43





	Living in the Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Ah hey guys, sorry in advance. This is the first thing I've written in a long time,, so please let me now where I can improve. I wrote this quickly and am publishing it at 1:25 in the morning, so if there's any errors let me know. Haha, who's working out past trauma through fanfiction? Not me, definitely not, ohhhh no

He woke up cold.

Shiro’s family had always kept the house a bit cooler than many people in his neighborhood, as his grandparents always felt too warm on the sunny west coast. He always thought that this ended up being better for him, since he turned into a furnace when he slept, and he did not like to end up sweaty every night.

He threw an arm out to the other side of the bed and grasped at empty sheets, wondering if it had all been a dream after all. Why would either of them want him in the first place? He was a mess. Shiro rolled back over, closing his eyes and listening to the hum of the ship, impersonal yet comforting in its newfound familiarity.

Shiro wondered how his grandparents were doing; were they worried? Did they know that he wasn’t on Earth? Had the garrison even told them when he first went missing?

He hoped that the garrison hadn’t told them, Shiro knew that his grandma worried over every little thing, and though his granddad did his best to act stoic, he worried over everything, too. Shiro did his best to imagine them enjoying their retirement: his grandma would write stories and, if her arthritis wasn’t too bad that day, she would craft small wooden or metal gifts for the neighbors. His grandpa would tend to the garden outside, proud as can be of his flowers, making friends of the wildlife that appeared around their homes.

The more Shiro thought of this, the worse he felt.

He tried to think of something else, but everything he thought of brought him back to missing the times before he joined the garrison, before he and the Holts were kidnapped on that damned mission, before he was-

No, no, no. Not tonight.

Shiro sat up with a groan, and decided to head to the training deck. Hopefully that would help take his mind off of things. Things like missing his grandparents, and remembering things he really did not want to remember, like when he was kidnapped, and when he was tortured, and when he was-

Fuck.

Shiro shook his head, and finished putting on what Allura considered to be pajamas, but what he considered to be workout clothes. People couldn’t even leave him alone in space, and he was sick and tired of it. When was the last time things were going well? Before he was taken? Before he went to the garrison? Before his parents died? He kept trying to think of a time he would go back to if he could, but all he saw was pain of various kinds. The garrison was tough, everything hurt and the system felt oppressive. His grandparents loved him, sure, but they wouldn’t if he had told them that he was also very into men. He couldn’t remember his parents, but from the things his grandparents said, maybe he was better off not being raised by them.

Maybe the best thing for him to do would be to just fucking-

Take a deep breath and start punching things.

Shiro fought the simulation initially with intensity that would have been very weird for what felt like 3 in the “morning”, hitting the bots with viciousness that only someone who has had to fight for their life too many times would know. Then one bot caught him off guard, and before he could react, it had him on the ground, arms held behind his back.

The situation was too similar, he had to get out, he had to fight back, he had to resist with all he could before it happened again.

The bot felt bigger on top of him, heavier, and as if there was no way it was going to let him go. Shiro kicked, Shiro squirmed, Shiro tried his damnedest to shake off the soldier, but nothing he did worked, he just held him tighter. Shiro felt his heart stop when a deep, rough chuckle sounded in his ear. He shut his eyes tight, “No! No, no, no, stop, please!” Shiro began fighting harder when he thought that he felt a hand somewhere he really didn’t want it, “Get off of me! Stop touching me! Help!”

Suddenly the soldier got off of him, Shiro felt rather than heard him falling over to his right, and leapt to his feet, moving to run as far as he could, he had to leave, he had to get away from there before they came after him, maybe this was his chance to escape from everything.

“Shiro!” He felt someone shaking him, “Shiro! Damn it, wake up! Shiro!”

He bolted upright, fully ready to fight his way out of whatever situation he had found himself in this time.

Keith caught his fist in mid air, and he realized that he was certainly not on a Galra prison ship, and was certainly not on the floor of the training deck. He certainly was soaked in sweat, however.

“Sorry! We didn’t mean to scare you!” Lance squeaked, “You were having a nightmare, so…”

“Do you want some water?” Shiro nodded as Keith sat back and passed him a glass of water. Keith and Lance watched Shiro drink the water, making sure not to touch him though trying to remain as close as they could. After he had finished the glass, Shiro took a deep breath. “Do you want to talk about it or do you want to do something?”

Shiro shook his head, then reconsidered. Maybe he would feel better if they knew more? But what if they made fun of him? What if they didn’t believe him? “I, uh-” Maybe they wouldn’t want to hear this, it is really upsetting. Maybe he would be better off just trying to forget it happened? He had been doing his best, but certain things just reminded him and he just ended up spiraling. Shiro was getting better at controlling the spiraling; he was now, in a handful of instances, able to stop it from getting too bad. It was getting noticeable now, though. He was also now sharing a bed with two other people who definitely noticed when he had nightmares. “Sorry to wake you.”

“Ah, no. We would like to make you, you handsome man, feel better because we love you and care about you. Don’t give me that tough-guy-ooh-I’m-so-cool-and-tough front.” Lance raised his eyebrows, and was very careful not to raise his voice or to sound too confrontational. He softened his tone, “Will you let us help you?”

Shiro looked between his partners, beginning to tear up a bit as they each took one of his hands. “Shiro, you’re safe. It’s okay, you can talk to us. If you keep things in your head, they’ll just get worse.”

Lance pressed a kiss to a metallic knuckle and hummed in agreement.

“I-” Shiro gulped, “was, um, I was… A soldier, a-after I was kidnapped, a soldier-” He squeezed his eyes shut. Why couldn’t he just say the damn words? They were just sounds! Sounds that conveyed meaning! It happened and there was no changing it, so why couldn’t he just get over it? It happened a good while ago, so he should be fine by now! God, he was pathetic. Why couldn’t he just tell two of the people he loved most the truth? They deserved to know that he was damaged goods beyond what they knew and beyond what they could see. He was weak.

“I w-” Say it. “I was-” Say it! “A soldier-” Fucking say it!

“Shiro, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, I think we get what you’re trying to say.” Lance rubbed circles into the chilled metal. “Thank you for telling us.”

“I’m gonna kill the bastard.” Kieth looked calm, but it was very obvious that he was very not calm.

“He’s probably already dead.”

“I’ll kill him again.”

“Please don’t go.” Shiro began crying in earnest then, pulling his hands away and curling up to hide his face. He had to be the strong one here. They couldn’t go, too, though he would understand it if they did.

“Babe, you’re safe, you’re here with us in our bedroom, we’re all sitting in bed. No one here is going to hurt you.” Lance rubbed soft circles into Shiro’s shoulder, trying to comfort him as best as he could without doing more harm than good.

“I just- I’m-”

“It’s okay, you’re okay.” Keith pressed a kiss to Shiro’s elbow, sitting back to leave him some room, but not without leaving a hand on Shiro’s forearm.

The three sat there for a while, Shiro letting out all of the tears he had previously refused to. Whenever he went to say something, Lance and Keith would softly remind him that he was safe now, and that they wouldn’t let anyone hurt him.

Shiro wondered if they would look at him any differently after he eventually calmed down, if they wouldn’t see him as the fearless leader he needed to be for the team to succeed. Would Voltron fall apart because he couldn’t keep it together? Would the universe fall into the hands of the Galra because of this too tender moment of weakness?

-

Luckily for the universe, the only thing that changed was how Keith and Lance treated him, and if anything, it made their relationship stronger.

If they noticed that he was training for a particularly long time, they would bring him a bit of whatever space equivalent of fruit the team had managed to procure. If he stared off into space during discussions, one of them would gently touch his leg under the table, or, as he saw fit, Lance would crack a joke that ended the conversation. They never pushed him to do anything he was uncomfortable with, and if they weren’t sure they would check in with him to see if he was doing alright.

“Hey guys, do you want to watch something tonight?” Shiro plopped down onto the couch in one of the viewing rooms in the castle. 

“Oh heck yeah! There’s a new movie that came out a bit ago on one of the planets we just left. I have no clue what it’s about at all!” Lance all but sprinted out of the room to grab the disk.

“So,” Keith curled up against Shiro’s side, “Are you doing any better? You’ve been having less nightmares.”

Shiro wrapped an arm around his shoulders, weaving his fingers into silky raven hair. “I think so, I feel less jumpy. I’ve been zoning out less, I guess. I don’t know why I didn’t tell you guys sooner, it probably would have been good for you to know.”

“Probably since you’re a stubborn jacka-”

“Lance!”

“What?”

“Be nice!”

“Or what?” Lance bent over to put the disc into the player, making sure to grab the required controls on his way to the couch.

“Yeah, Keith. What are you going to do to make him be nice to me?” Shiro made puppy eyes at Keith, causing him to roll his eyes. “Aww, he hurt my feelings so bad, Keith, what are you going to do about it?”

Lance chuckled before ducking under Shiro’s other arm, throwing his long legs over Shiro’s and onto the increasingly bothered Keith’s. “Ohoho, look at me being so mean!” Lance pecked the corner of Shiro’s smirk.

“You guys suck.”

“Dick!”

“I swear to god, I’m going to throw you off of this couch.”

Shiro couldn’t help but shake his head at his lovers as they bickered through the movie’s previews. The ship’s translator wasn’t working, so they took it upon themselves to try and help out the actors with their own lines and voices, laughing late into the night. As the credits rolled, Shiro couldn’t think of a better place to be than with his two favorite people.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think about this if you are able to :3


End file.
